MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin says its patience with a U.S. plan to return the Russian Embassy's compounds is running out.

Russian President Vladimir Putin. AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky

The Kremlin says its patience with the US's plan to return the Russian Embassy's compounds is running out.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said Monday that Russia had demonstrated remarkable restraint by refraining from a tit-for-tat response to President Barack Obama's decision in December to expel 35 Russian diplomats and shutter Russian compounds in Maryland and New York. The facilities are believed to have been used by the Russians for intelligence-gathering.

However, The Washington Post reported in May that the White House told the Kremlin it would consider returning the seized compounds if Russia lifted its ban on the construction of a US consulate in St. Petersburg. But the US reversed its position two days later, The Post reported.

Ushakov said that while Russia had shown "unusual flexibility," Moscow's patience "has its limits." He urged Washington to take action to "free Russia from the need to take retaliatory moves," emphasizing that Moscow would feel obliged to respond if the matter weren't settled.

Putin and US President Donald Trump are expected to have their first meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit, in Germany on Friday and Saturday.